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Bowker Market Research’s Global eBook Monitor studies the rate of adoption and buyer demographics of ebooks in 10 major markets. The first wave of results has now become available. Among the results, Australia, India, the U.K., and the U.S. lead the world in adoption, while France and Japan are the slowest to embrace the new format. The study tracks consumer attitudes toward and purchasing of ebooks in major world markets. Bowker Market Research is a service of Bowker, LLC, an affiliated business of ProQuest.

Research for Bowker’s Global eBook Monitor (GeM) was conducted among the online population in 10 countries—Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S.—in early 2012. While purchase behavior varies by country, awareness is relatively consistent: More than 80% of respondents in each country know it is possible to digitally download a book.

Age and gender are consistent predictors of purchase behavior globally. For example, in most countries surveyed, men are more likely than women to buy an ebook. In almost all markets, the older the respondents, the less likely they are to have recently purchased an ebook. Purchase rates in India, Brazil, the U.K., the U.S., and France are highest in the 25–34 age group, with Australia, Spain, Germany, South Korea, and Japan highest among 18- to 24-year-olds.

The numbers of ebooks downloaded in the past 6 months within genres indicates significant differences between countries. In the U.K. and Australia, the concentration is on adult fiction, while in India and South Korea, the concentration is on both professional/business and academic/textbooks.

An annual study, over time GeM will create a view of market shifts in response to new digital formats. GeM currently operates in partnership with Pearson, Tata Consultancy Services, AT Kearney, and Book Industry Study Group. It employs online surveys hosted by Lightspeed Research or their affiliates in nine countries and by MTi in the U.S. The minimum number of respondents in each country was 1,000; samples were designed and weighted to be representative of the adult (18 and older) population in terms of age, sex, and region, but they were, by definition, drawn from the online population only. Individual country reports will be available for purchase at the end of April.